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Devotional thoughts for 2nd Sunday after the Assumption of Mother of God 29-8-4

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Jose Kurian

Reading: Gospel According to St. Luke 11: 9-20 Dear and Respected Brethren, In the given portion of the Holy Scriptures for today�����s meditation and study,

Message 1 of 1
, Aug 27, 2004

Reading: Gospel According to St. Luke 11: 9-20

Dear and Respected Brethren,

In the given portion of the Holy Scriptures for today�s meditation and
study, we find our Lord teaching a simple and easy short cut to attain the
blessings from God Almighty viz. Ask, Seek and Knock. In verse 9 we read,
�And I say unto you, Ask, it shall be given, seek, you shall find, knock,
and it shall be opened unto you.� The same type of promise we could find in
St. Matthew 7:7. In the Old Testament era also God Almighty had given such
promises. In Psalms 50:15 we read, And call upon me in the day of trouble, I
will deliver thee, and thou shall glorify me�. Again in Psalms 118:5 we find
the testimony of David the King, �I called upon the Lord in distress: the
Lord answered me, and set me in a large place.�

We must think how many of us could say bravely that we have called upon God
and He was kind enough to make me free of my tensions and distresses? Even
if there are a few who might have called and depended upon God Almighty in
the days of distress, how many of us were good enough to glorify God? In our
daily lives, how many times our good Lord is saving us from serious fall in
the deep pits. Are we counting them and thanking Him? In St. Mark 11:24, our
Lord teaches �Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever you desire, when
you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them�. Many of
us ignore this teaching in the daily lives. We might pray for our needs and
solutions of the problems. Still we might keep a doubt �whether our prayers
were accepted by God or not�. Our Lord says that such a fear is out of
question. Until recently our mothers used to seek the intercession of St.
Mary mother of God or some other Patron Saint in whom they had faith, as
soon as they find starting of some sort of ailments for their children or
grand children. They might apply the oil brought from the Church and slowly
they would think of going to the physicians. The present mothers would
immediately telephone the specialist Doctor available and fix an appointment
and will rush to him or her in anxiety. I was just showing the difference
in the attitude of our own people. I don�t mean that we should not try for a
specialist. But in the days of distress, we must call upon our Lord first
and then only we must look for the specialist or so.

In St. John 15:7 our Lord is teaching another thing also. �If you abide in
me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be
done unto you�. How one faithful could abide in Him? For this type of
abideness only our Lord offered His flesh and blood. We are lucky enough to
maintain the steady and strong abideness with our Lord by having regular
partaking of the Holy Eucharist. St James reminds us that we must have faith
when we would call Him. In St. James 1:6 we read, �But let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with
the wind and tossed�. St. John is advising us to do the things pleasing to
God prior to placing our needs before him. (Please refer I John 3:22 and I
John 5:14)

Following this teaching it is recorded in the Holy Scripture that our Lord
was casting out devils and the same deed was watched by the on lookers. In
Verse 15 it is said that, �He casts out devils through the chief of the
devils�. And a few others wanted to seek a sign from heaven. Knowing their
thoughts in their minds, our Lord told them a great lesson, which is
mentioned in verse 17. Actually we all have to give priority for this
lesson. We are living in a society where we have lost the mutual respect,
concern and affection, which existed, among our predecessors. We all are
guided by the ego of getting rich by any means and on its way we ignore all
sorts of relationships. We are not at all reluctant to adopt any undesirable
means to achieve our goals and aims. Being Orthodox Christians we must long
to live in God doing the will of God, maintaining the faith in God. If so
our Lord God would be pleased in us and grant all our prayers. He will be
happy to say that the Kingdom of God is come upon us, as He said in Verse
20. May God bless us all.

Jose Kurian Puliyeril.

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